


nsca: the multiverse

by huff_le_puff



Series: No Second Chances Allowed [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, No Second Chances Allowed
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multiverse, no second chances allowed - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28204086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huff_le_puff/pseuds/huff_le_puff
Summary: Have you ever heard of the multiverse? It's the idea that there is more than one universe, like and unlike our own. There's may universes, hence the "multi" prefix, and here are six of them.Meet the many Lydia's of the universe!
Series: No Second Chances Allowed [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1659640
Kudos: 3





	1. the multiverse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Have you ever heard of the multiverse? It's the idea that there is more than one universe, like and unlike our own. There's may universes, hence the "multi" prefix, and here are six of them.  
> Meet the many Lydia's of the universe!

In every life, Lydia dies young. It matters not what body she lives in, or the name she is given. In each and every life she lives, Lydia dies young.

Well, let’s backtrack, shall we? There’s a theory called the multiverse. Well, technically humans like to believe it is only a theory. But it is real.

In your universe, Lydia was born healthy. When she turned four she became deathly sick with pneumonia after sitting in a storm. Somehow, she survived; But not without consequences. She got sick easily, eventually, at nine years old, developing what she called the McBrien Gene. This gene would follow her for the rest of her life, and even makes an appearance in other universes. 

* * *

Dorothea Lily Potter belongs to Universe #64, where she is brave, and protective, and is all the things you must be as Harry Potter's older, usually looked over, sister. She is only two years and some odd months old when she and her brother are orphaned, like in most other universes for poor Harry. She isn't able to see her godfather for much too long, shipped off to her aunt's for ten years. There she shares a tiny cupboard with Harry, and does her best to protect him from the worse things, teaching him games to protect what little innocence she can.

Then, as the war comes to a head, she dies. She dies with her head in Harry's lap, sitting in a musty old cellar. He screams at her not to die, not to leave like everyone else.

She dies anyway.

* * *

There is a universe, #125, where Lydia is born a triplet. In this universe her name is not Lydia, it is Demitria Lavinia Weasley, and she is the triplet of Fred and George. They grow up attached at the hip, as in every other universe, and drive their parents mad with pranks and adventures they're much too young to be on. 

Demitria, just as every Weasley before her, is a Gryffindor through and through. So it's really no surprise that, when he hears her little brother and his friends are going to the Ministry alone to fight Death Eaters, she goes. Who else is here to protect them, after all? She goes, and she fights so hard, and had her father not had to hold her as she died, he would have complimented her. Instead, he promises to water her plants when she leaves, and cries.

* * *

There’s more universes where she is given at least one brother. One in particular is Universe #696. Her name is Candace Rose Dursley, named after her grandmother Rose Evans, and she is not well liked. She is most things her parents despise, like girls wearing pants and having a loud voice and having frizzy hair.

But she truly becomes everything they despise when she turns eleven, just two years after her brother and cousin do, and an owl arrives.

Things are tense after that, but it doesn’t matter too much because at Hogwarts Harry is there and Harry says they can be their own family; The last of the Evans’.

She finds friends with Astoria Greengrass in Slytherin, Poppy Caxton in Ravenclaw, Grace Nutley and Zara Valli in Hufflepuff, and Eloise Midgen in Gryffindor.

Candace dies just after her 21st birthday, in the most mundane way possible for a witch: she gets hit with a car while crossing the road.

* * *

Universe #735 doesn't give her an easy life, but it's not as bad as the other universes, either. Sure, her gran is strict and her parents are indisposed, and there's a constant shroud of anxiety wrapped around her throat... But she had plats and isn't that all Guinevere - "Call me Gwennie, please." - could ask for? It's all she asked for. (No, really. Her gran is annoyed at how long her birthday wish list is.) 

Gwennie grows up the way her fringe grows past her eyes: Too fast and slow all at once. Her knees have permanent marks on them from kneeling in her garden, and her nails have stopped growing out past the tips of her fingers, because she bites them off in anxiety. She outgrows her skirts, and replaces them with slacks good for gardening. She'll outgrow wearing her hair in pigtails, charm bracelets, and her baby face. One day, she'll even grow out of her fear and brandish a sword to Voldemort.

The one thing she never outgrows is the necklace her mum gave her as a baby. It's a gold chained thing so long she can tuck the bird charm into her short collar to hide it, and feel the cold metal grow warm against her skin after hours of wear. Apparently, her twin brother had a matching bracelet, but she had never met him because he'd been kidnapped when they were toddlers. Gwennie hopes that, like a story, that’s how she’ll find him. Uncle Algie says Neville’s probably dead and not to hope for silly things.

Gwennie does meet Neville, just minutes before she's killed. It's not quite the story she imagined.

* * *

In Universe #6672, Lydia has a little sister named Nadia who moved in with Lydia and her wife, Daphne Greengrass. She dies at only 21, next to her wife’s side in bed. There is no medical cause, unless you count the McBrien Gene. Daphne does.

There is no little brother in this universe, only a cat named Priscilla. Daphne stays by Priscilla’s side, and raises their little boy, Tatum, on her own. Theo and Blaise are excellent uncles, and Astoria brings little Scorpius over every weekend. Daphne wants to say it fills the hole Lydia leaves, but her wife had never liked lying, so she won't.

See, no matter the universe she is put in, Lydia is so very loved, and when she is taken she leaves a hole so big her friends and family are left gaping wounds.

* * *

In Universe #9856, she runs away from her family when she’s six years old, after refusing to kill a rabbit. A man with an odd accent named Mister Lupin finds her, and upon her lying that she’s an orphan, he adopts her in North America, where werewolf laws are lax. He takes her back to England, where everyone assumes she was his by birth, and thus they leave them alone. Magical folk do not care about the children of werewolves, just as they wish death upon their parents. 

Lydia Lupin dies at 17, Luna looking into her eyes where they both lie on the floor of the 3rd floor corridor, just outside the Charms classroom. The Battle rages on, but they barely notice the whizzing spells, or Neville screaming for them to move. He can fix them. (He can’t.)

* * *

So you see, in each universe (and there are quite many) Lydia dies. Lydia dies too early, and well before the majority of her friends. There are some universes she only manages to fourteen, and there is one she even makes it to fifty. 

But perhaps the worst, it is awful and the fates hate it, the worst one is unspeakable. 

The fates hate it so much, they refuse to let me even tell you which one. 

But don’t worry, it isn’t the one you’ve just read about. 

That one, is Universe #007. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! hope y'all enjoyed this chapter & introduction of sorts to the nsca multiverse. i didn't update last week, so i thought i'd put this out early while i worked on the next chapter of the rebranding installment of nsca. give me your thoughts, i love comments!


	2. dorothea lily potter

Dorothea Lily Potter is born to Lily and James Potter (yes,  _ the _ Potters) in Universe #0064. She’s named Dorothea, after her great grandmother. Nicknamed Dory, she is  _ so loved. _ Everyone adores her, but none more than her godfather, Remus Lupin. (Unofficial godfather. Legally it’s Sirius, but they all know Remus would be making the decisions.) 

She spends one semi-peaceful year with her parents and godfathers, as peaceful as wartime can be, that is. She’s never taken to her Uncle Wormy like everyone else, but James jokes it’s just the smell of Peter’s coffee she hates.

When her little brother, Harry, comes along they’re adorable. She loves him more than anyone else, which hurts Padfoot’s feelings, but he gets over it. Even as a barely two year old, Dorothea protects Harry.

They’re not lucky in this universe, and they are orphaned. It happens the same way, right up to them getting shipped to their awful Aunt and Uncle’s. They’re made to share a cupboard that barely holds the both of them, knocking heads and knees on the nights - and days - they’re locked inside.

When a letter comes for Dorothea a year before Harry, she’s taken away from her brother for ten months, away somewhere that feels like home for the first time. Sorted into Gryffindor just barely (the hat wanted Hufflepuff, but she had fought with it because she knew Harry would be made a Gryffindor next year.), she makes friend after friend there. She’s never had a friend before, but suddenly she’s got Katie Bell, the Weasley twins, Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet on her side. Still, she misses her brother mad, he’s the only piece missing.

Her first year is filled with learning and homesickness (Never for the Dursleys or their house, no. Harry is her home and always will be.), but it’s also filled with rumors of a kelpie that stands at the edge of the lake, so the area is blocked off and she doesn’t get to explore as much as she wants.

When she gets off the train, her Aunt and Uncle are waiting for her, Dudley pouting around a lolly. Harry’s not there, but she doesn't say anything because she knows they’ve made him stay home just to prolong her happiness at seeing him again. They’re cruel like that. When she does finally see him, dusting in the kitchen, she pulls him into a tight hug, just barely holding back from yelling in joy.

* * *

Harry follows her to Hogwarts the next year, and he gets Gryffindor as she knew he would.

It goes like this, the next several years:

A rumor of a Gringotts break-in makes its way around the school, and Dory ignores it because that’s not her problem. What is her problem is Harry, so Dory spends as much time as possible with him. He makes friends with Hermione, a girl that's slightly irritating but all around sweet, and a boy named Ron who is one of the twin’s brothers and likes sweets more than is healthy. 

He sneaks around more than he should, but she figures that’s just curiosity, and it’s harmless. After all, she’s gotten many a detention for sneaking into the library to read after hours. Then he disappears for a few hours too long, and she’s told by Professor McGonagall that he’s in the infirmary after a foolish attempt to save a special kind of stone. (A bloody rock!)

* * *

The next year, between the time it takes for them to step off the train and when she sees him covered in blood and snake guts, things are a bit of a whirl for Dory. She’s in her third year now, and she spends most of her weekends with her friends in Hogsmeade when they’re allowed. When she’s not in lessons or Hogsmeade, she’s busy experimenting with Katie on each other’s hair and the little makeup that Katie's parents bought her. Dory is not very good at lipstick, but she knows how to do eyeliner quite well.

Suddenly she’s told a snake was in the pipes, petrifying students, and Harry has, just as the year before, disappeared and wound up telling her another horrifying tale while wearing blood on his clothing as if it’s a fashion statement.

* * *

Then her fourth year comes, and with it a danger she can’t protect Harry from (not that she’s done exactly stellar on that front since Harry’s decided he had to be a bloody hero for all of Hogwarts, anyway.) This danger is called Sirius Black.

At the end of the year, after seeing Harry turn up in the infirmary,  _ again _ , she follows him out to save Ron from a dog that looks oddly familiar to the one they’d seen that summer when they ran away from Privet Drive. There, she sees a man she’d only had dreams about: her godfather.

“You…” she had said, as they walked along the tunnel, “I’m sorry, I just...when I look at you, all I can think of is a motorcycle and the name Pad, something. I sound mad, don’t I?”

The half dead looking man smiles at her.

“No, you’re not. It’s Pad _ foot _ , I’m...Well, I don’t know if anyone’s told you, Dorothea, but I was made your godfather. Erm, I know you live with your aunt and uncle, but if you wanted to-”

“I’d love to live with you, and I’d wager Harry feels the same. Aunt Petunia is a right wench, and Vernon’s not any better.”

When Sirius has to fly off into the night a few hours later, she tries to squash down her disappointment.

* * *

Her fifth year is stressful, and it’s not even because of the OWLs! Harry, her baby brother who’s suddenly not a baby, is in a tournament that usually leaves at least one contestant dead. Suddenly she’s not getting detention for being in the library after curfew, she’s getting them for hexing students who are mean and don’t believe Harry. Even with the twins and Katie trying to keep her from hearing, and sending their own nasty looks to keep the insults away, she’s in too many detentions. At least three a week.

Each task makes her heart stop beating for a few minutes, she’s sure. Katie has to practically knock her out each night, because if she didn’t then Dory would barely sleep.

With the end of the year and Harry’s half-win, she’s sent back to the Dursley’s with her brother, and a tight hug from Sirius.

“One day,” he promised with a whisper as they hugged, “we’ll be a family together. You, Harry, Remus, and me. All of us. We’ll live in a cottage in the country.”

“I’ll dream of it every night, so don’t disappoint me.”

She gets letters almost every week from all her friends, checking in on both her, and Harry. They help, but they're not enough to make her forget the screams of Harry as he thrashes around in the small twin bed beside her. They’re not enough to make the hunger from Dudley’s annoying diet stop. But they are enough to make her smile, so she stores them in the loose floorboard she and Harry share.

* * *

Her sixth year is, perhaps, the worst of them all. The big sister part of her is angry, so she and Harry are dubbed, “The Angry Potters.” Her friends are perhaps the only ones not wary of them, along with Sirius and Remus.

“Why aren’t you two acting like everyone else? Aren’t you scared we’ll hurt you?”

Harry nodded at her side, his now permanent scowl settled on his face. She knew he wasn’t angry then, it was just his way of showing stress.

Remus has snorted so hard he choked, and hurriedly gulped down tea.

Sirius had been grinning when he replied, “It’s called the Lily Evans temper and we knew it for almost a decade, Prongslets. It isn’t scary anymore. Besides, the worst you’ll do is a hex. Been there, done that.”

Remus nodded sagely.

“Now your dad...Oh, he would never. Most he did was the silent treatment, but then he’d get excited about something and you were forgiven so he could yap about it.”

Harry smiled the same smile she was sure she also gave when hearing about their parents.

Smile slipping, Harry asked quietly, “So, you don’t think we’re bad?”

Sirius gave him a hug.

“The world isn’t good people and Death Eaters, Harry. We’re all a little bit bad and good. But you two...you’re so good. You took a little bit of everybody else’s good, you’re so good.”

Remus had nodded, and both Potters felt a little better. Harry’s scowl lifted for a little while.

Dorothea hates Umbridge, like everyone else. When she hears from Harry, one night after a detention, what had been happening, she goes right to Fred and George, and the three of them plan a prank so brutal it actually makes Umbridge sob.

(They drop cat hair, shaved off of Mrs. Norris, from the ceiling directly into her food at dinner.)

The twins leave, but before they do, they ask her to come with.

“You’ve got your OWLs, Outstandings in all of them!” Fred had whispered to her, a hand on one of her shoulders.

George, his hand on the other, added, “You could drop out with us, run the shop. We can split the money, you could be a teller, get out of the Dursleys’ faster.”

A spark of hope had erupted in her chest then, but she shook her head.

“I-I can’t. You  _ know _ I can’t. Harry needs me.”

Stepping back and stepping on their broomsticks, they nodded.

“Offer still stands, Potter.”

As she watched them fly away to cause a scene, she sighed.

She so wanted to follow them.

After going to the Ministry with Harry and his friends, she doesn’t speak. Her friends, Harry, and even Remus try talking with her, but she can’t even find the energy to open her mouth.  What is the point when Sirius couldn’t anymore?

* * *

Her last summer before Hogwarts isn’t fun, but summers never have been. She and Harry spend as much time as possible in their room, sharing the rations that would barely be enough for one person, let alone two. Dudley keeps sneaking them tea, with small berries at the bottom of the mugs, and they eat them greedily, uncaring if it’s a game to him.

Dumbledore takes them to the Burrow after a quick pit stop at an old professor’s house, and she doesn’t speak there either. 

When she does finally speak again, it’s at Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. She’s so amazed by the bustling shop, and when one of the twins grabs her arm, she says, “Bloody buggering hell.”

Harry, by her side, exclaimed, “ _ That’s  _ what you say after nearly two months of silence?! That?!”

He strides off angrily, meeting up with Ron and Fred, who’s giving a tour.

Frowning, George asks, “Two months, Dory?”

She ignores him, and her voice scratchy, asks, “Does your offer still stand, if-if I don’t want to be in school?”

“The offer stands for however long. You can come right now, we’ll kip over and grab your things.”

She worries her lip. 

“But Harry-”

“Harry’s sixteen, love. I know you want to protect him, Merlin knows I want to protect Ginny. But do you think that girl ever lets me?”

“...No, she wouldn’t.”

“Exactly. You can’t put your life on hold for him. He’ll be on his own next year anyway. So what do  _ you  _ want?”

“He’s all I’ve got, George. I have to be there.”

Pulling her tighter to his side, he told her, “Dory, what do you want? Don’t let anything hold you back. Choose what you want.”

After a very long moment of silence, she said, “I’ll let you know on the seventeenth of April.”

Sure enough, partway through her seventh year of Hogwarts, Dorothea sends a note through Hedwig to Fred and George:

**_I’ll take your offer. Meet me in Hogsmeade on Saturday. -Dory_ ** ****

Hogwarts hadn’t been particularly awful this year, in fact it was the most peaceful one she’s had since her third year. The curse on Katie had nearly made her quit, but she had felt a need to stay, if only for Neville, who was more fearful than ever since it happened. Really, the thing to make up her mind was Luna.

She had caught Dorothea on her way to breakfast, and tagged along. 

“Dory,” Luna had said, “You shouldn’t stay here. It’s not what you need.”

“What do you mean? I’m supposed to finish my education, everyone does.”

“It’s not in your destiny, Dory. Just as it's in Harry’s destiny to kill You-Know-Who. He’ll do it, and he'll be okay. The stuff in between doesn’t matter if he’s okay, does it?”

Dorothea had stopped walking, and turned to face Luna.

“You swear he’ll be okay? And he won’t hate me for leaving him like-”

“He knows you aren’t leaving him like your family had to. I think if you talk to him, you’ll see he wants you to be happy and live while you can.”

“While I can? What-? Luna, what does that mean? Luna!”

Luna skipped away, smiling.

“Talk to Harry!”

So she had. What was there to gain by not?

Luna had been right.

“Thea,” Harry had half sighed, half laughed, “Go, be with Fred and George. You always say you’d give me the world if you could. But I’d give you the same. And your world is the twins. So...go. Be happy. Mum and Dad would want that, I think. They wouldn’t care if you dropped out of school.”

“There’s only a few months left…”

Leaning closer to her on his dorm bed, he told her, “Hermione was looking into it, in case we can’t come back next year, and you can take NEWTs at the ministry.”

“You-you can?”

“Yeah, talk to McGonagall about it, if you want. Or just leave before anyone knows. Pack your things and leave. Just…”

“I’ll leave a note so nobody worries. I’ll say I’m doing what Mum wanted. That’ll throw them off.”

He laughed, then shoved her off the bed. Her curly hair fell into her face, and she blew it off with frustration.

“I’m going, I’m going! See you, baby brother.”

“Oh for - I’m sixteen! Not a baby!”

“You’re always my baby!” Dorothea argued back, exiting his dorm.

She had to pack.

* * *

Dorothea is welcomed excitedly into the flat above WWW, and they all share the one bedroom. 

“Didn’t see a point in getting two rooms, since we’ve always shared everything,” Fred explained once they’d shown her around for the second time. 

Gesturing to the third twin mattress lying on the floor with a smattering of blankets, George added, “We’ll get you a better bed soon, but we grabbed this from the Burrow yesterday. Figured you wouldn’t want to share one of ours. Warning, Freddie snores.”   
She snorted.

“I’ve roomed with you two before, I know you  _ both _ snore.”

On the floor, wedged between their door and George’s bed, was a mattress with a few pillows and one of the quilts Dorothea recalled being on the Burrow’s sofa. On top of the pile of pillows, sat a dragon stuffie.

“What’s this?” she asked, bending down to pick it up.

“It was Charlie's, but we know you have a hard time adjusting to sleeping in new places.”

Blushing a little at that, she set it back down and smiled.

“It’s lovely, thank you. And don’t worry about the mattress, I’ve slept on worse.”

Pushing thoughts of the Dursleys from her mind, she began to laugh.

“Fred, George, I don’t have to go back! I don’t have to see the Dursleys again!”

Grinning with her, Fred pointed to the door.

“Come on then, let’s have supper out, as a celebration.”

“Ooh, can we get-”

“ _ Yes _ , we’ll get something from that Indian place by Gambol and Jape’s. We’re getting something there, too.”

“Of course we are,” Dorothea laughed, dropping her magically lightened trunk on the mattress and fishing a jumper out of it. “Thank you again, for letting me stay.”

George nudged her, grinning, “It’s not all free, mind. You’ve got to be our teller, and it’s not fun when things get really busy.”

“I’m sure I’ll love it.”

* * *

In the coming year, until all three of them had to go into hiding, Dorothea was their teller, and she adored it. The look on a kid’s - and the few adults - face coming in was a joy to see, especially when they would immediately set the item off, creating chaos. The unbridled joy was adorable.

Remus had been disappointed she’d dropped out at first, as had many of the adults in her life. But, when they saw she wasn’t going to budge and actually was happy, they let up on it. (Truthfully, Harry and Ginny had combined forces to distract the more nitpicky adults. They were dating now, and chaotic.)

She spent her days going nearly insane with not just Fred and George, but their Aunt Muriel, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley, and Mr. Weasley. Add in Hermione’s cat, her own cat, Pigwidgeon, and four of Muriel’s own cats...it was maddening. For a girl who had grown up with only Harry as her company, with occasional contact with her relatives, it was overwhelming.

She spent the time reading, and because she was sharing a room with Ginny, studying for NEWTs so she could take them when the war was over. Dorothea tried to occupy herself, because any time spent unfocused meant she worried herself ill for Harry.

Dorothea really did worry herself ill when she finally saw Harry again. He was standing in the Room of Requirement when she followed Fred through the tunnel, and looked more gaunt than she thought possible.

“Harry!” She yelled, “Harry James Potter come here!”

He looked away from his conversation with Cho Chang and came hurtling towards her.

Through their hug, she heard Mrs. Weasley crying and calling them precious, but she didn’t pay it mind. Harry  was in her arms, and he was  _ alive. _

* * *

“YOU ABSOLUTE PRAT! I HATE YOU! I CAN’T BELIEVE-”

“Thea, thea, THEA!” Harry yelled, covering his ears as she strode her way up to him. The castle was nearly demolished, people were crying and yelling, her head was bleeding, but all she heard was him. “Thea, hey, it’s alright. I’m here, you’re here, we’re alive. We’re alive, Thea. Feel my heart. It’s beating!”

She swallowed him up in a hug, knowing she was crying but not caring.

* * *

It’s not even three months later that, while shopping for Harry’s school things for Harry’s repeating seventh year, Dorothea is grabbed. Harry is holding her hand, so they’re both dragged to an alley and knocked unconscious. The only relief she takes is that Harry’s gotten in a hit before things go black for a while.

She doesn’t know how long it’s been since they were nabbed, but if they get fed once a day, it might have been seven weeks. She counts the pile of discarded dishes sometimes, when she has the energy. She doesn’t have a lot of that, since the kidnappers realized Harry hurts more if she’s tortured than if he were to be. Secretly, Dorothea’s glad it’s her. She wouldn’t want Harry going through this.

It’s what should be their 64th day that she collapses during what she privately calls her torture session with their captor. Rather than help her, they throw her down the steps and into the cellar Harry and she are kept in.

Harry runs to her, and cradles her head in his lap.

“Thea, Thea, look at me.” He shakes her head. “Dorothea!”

Blinking her eyes open, she stares at him.

“Are they done?”

“Y-yeah, I think so. I swear, we’ll get out really soon.”

“It’s alright. You’ll be okay. Voldemort’s gone, you don’t need me anymore.”

He shook his head frantically, but her eyes had slipped closed again. There were bruises on them.

“Don’t you dare say that! I always need you, you’re my Thea. You-If you go, who’s gonna protect me, huh? Stop it, open your eyes! Open them!”

She managed to, with difficulty.

“There you are, you’re such a good sister. Just-just don’t leave. Not like everyone else, okay? You’re-you’re supposed to be that exception, the one who never leaves. Always by my side, remember? Until the end of the story.”

“It’s the end of the story, Harry.”

“No, no it’s not! You’ve gotta make more pages. That’s all, just make more.”

She reached a shaky and pale hand for one of his trembling ones.

“Listen to me. You have to because I’m older, got it?”

He gave a shaky chuckle.

“Kill them, for me. They-they’re bad, I don’t want them to do this again. Soon as you can, just…”

“Thea, I can’t. Not if you won’t be by my side.”

The little light the cellar had rom the crack in he door seeme to fade darker.

Harry seemed to understand this.

He brought her hand up to his face, and held it against his cheek.

“Say hi to Mum and Dad, alright? Sirius and Remus too. And-and Fred. Pet Hedwig. Let them know I’ll see you soon.”

For how close she was to death, the pressure against his face seemed suddenly strong.

“Don’t you  _ dare  _ come see us before you’re seventy. If you do, I’ll beat your arse. I’m your sister, I can do that.”

“Yeah, okay. I love you.”

“I love you more.”

Her grip slackened. 

“Nah, you don’t.”


End file.
